Trekking through dense cannabis fields, walking on a trail where second foot struggle to stay beside, that is an image of the trail towards Malana camps. I am not talking about the main village. Why? Because it wasn’t recommended.
We reached Malana Dam at afternoon around 3. First, when we started after 10 minutes, I realized its not a good idea to continue on this train with 10Kg rucksack, a tripod, a camera bag, and a side bag. I went back to the car and ditched everything except one thermal, camera bag, tripod, and side bag carrying a water bottle and a book. But I was with a beginner fellow trekker, so I decided to switch my side back with her rucksack Voluntarily.
First 5-10 minutes, it was scary to walk on that trail. The later trail was good, but another difficulty was waiting for its turn; The New Moon night.
It was a bit difficult. We were tired more like exhausted from the all-day journey. After a few minutes, we decided to tip the shop-keeper and convinced him to lead the way. He agreed, but his over-enthusiasm and initiatives caused us a bit. How? He advised us to take a short-cut to reach the village. In the mountain, when you say short-cut, it is just ditching the road and climbing the mountain on at least a 60-70-degree inclined path. It is generally not that bad, but we had heavy luggage, and it just rained in the evening, so muddy trail converted itself into a slider.
We were moving forward towards a blurred light. We had an unknown guide. Men were crawling with headlamps, and Women were dragged by the guide and another least exhausted person. We thanked them wholeheartedly at the end.
Everyone, including a part of me, was climbing in a hurry because of night. The other part wanted to stop and feel the silence, the stillness, the breeze, the fading sound of the river, and most of everything, the stars.
